SpaceX Starship made the first successful water landing

SpaceX completed its fourth Starship Super Heavy flight test with a successful landing in the Indian Ocean. The vehicle took off from the launch pad in Texas at 08.50 local time (15.50 GMT) and successfully separated from the booster rocket. The Super Heavy booster performed a landing burn as planned and touched down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Starship vehicle continued on its planned flight path and re-entered. Live camera footage showed a flap was damaged and began to burn. However, the vehicle remained sufficiently intact that the engines reignited and made a “soft landing.” “Despite the loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship managed to make a soft landing in the ocean!” Elon Musk said in a tweet. said.

One step in space travel with Starship Super Heavy

The two-stage 120-meter system, consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, is known as the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. This system, known as Starship, aims to carry large amounts of payload and up to 100 people for future space missions. SpaceX aims to significantly reduce the costs of space travel by designing both the vehicle and booster components to be completely reusable.

Today’s launch follows three previous test flights of Starship. The last attempt in March was a successful launch before being reported “lost” shortly before landing in the Indian Ocean. The vehicle executed several target maneuvers before disintegrating during reentry. These maneuvers included full duration ascent burn, hot stage separation from the Super Heavy booster, and opening the payload door in space.

The first and second flight tests, conducted last year, were less successful, as the Starship rocket exploded shortly after launch on both attempts. Through these collective flight tests, SpaceX collected data to increase the likelihood of success for future Starship launches. The system plans to take NASA astronauts back to the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission, and this mission is expected to take place in September 2025 at the earliest.

SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy project has the potential to revolutionize space travel. This project will not only reduce costs but also allow larger and more complex tasks to be carried out. This historic water landing shows that SpaceX has taken an important step towards achieving these big goals. All these developments will reshape the future of space travel and determine humanity’s place in space more firmly.